Sir Christopher John Pitchford (28 March 1947 – 18 October 2017) was a senior British judge, who was a

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justice ...

in England and Wales from 2010 until he retired because of ill-health in 2017. Pitchford was educated at Queen's College, Taunton and studied law at Queen Mary, University of London. He was called to the Bar in 1969, becoming a Bencher of

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1996. He became a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1987 and appointed a Deputy High Court judge in 1996. Pitchford was appointed a full judge of that court on 28 September 2000 and received the customary knighthood. He was a Presiding Judge of the Wales and Chester Circuit from 2002 to 2005. On 12 January 2010, Pitchford became a

, and was subsequently appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. He was appointed to chair the

Undercover Policing Inquiry The Undercover Policing Inquiry or Pitchford Inquiry is an independent public inquiry into Covert policing in the United Kingdom, undercover policing in England and Wales. It was announced by Theresa May, the United Kingdom Home Secretary on 12 M ...

, which was announced by

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

, the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

on 12 March 2015. He announced that he would step down from the Inquiry in May 2017 following the diagnosis of motor neurone disease, and he died in October 2017.Home
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References

1947 births 2017 deaths People educated at Queen's College, Taunton English King's Counsel Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom English barristers Knights Bachelor Neurological disease deaths in England Deaths from motor neuron disease Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Lords Justices of Appeal Members of the Middle Temple 20th-century English lawyers {{UK-law-bio-stub

See also

References